Highlights of the season 2016–2017 by the Spanish Melanoma Group (GEM)

Abstract

In the last years there has been great progress in the treatment of advanced melanoma patients. This explosion of melanoma research has not declined, but rather has continued exponentially growing. In this review, the Spanish Group of Melanoma (GEM) compiles the highlights of melanoma treatment communicated or published between ASCO 2016 and AACR 2017. In this period, definitive data have been published about the possibility of achieving a long term survival with the use of single anti-PD-1 antibodies, as well as data on the description of clinical subgroups of patients that can also obtain a long term survival with the use of targeted drugs combining the oral BRAF and MEK inhibitors. The first immunotherapy combination including nivolumab, an anti-PD-1 antibody, plus ipilimumab, an anti-CTLA-4 antibody, has been approved, based on its demonstrated benefit in terms of overall survival versus ipilimumab alone.